US judge dismisses suit vs Google over facial recognition software

A lawsuit filed in opposition to Google by shoppers who claimed the search engine’s picture sharing and storage service violated their privateness was dismissed on Saturday by a U.S. judge who cited an absence of “concrete injuries.”

U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang in Chicago granted a Google movement for abstract judgment, saying the courtroom lacked “subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs have not suffered concrete injuries.”

The suit, filed in March 2016, alleged Alphabet’s Google violated Illinois state legislation by accumulating and storing biometric information from folks’s pictures utilizing facial recognition software with out their permission by its Google Photos service.

Plaintiffs had sought greater than $5 million collectively for the “hundreds of thousands” of state residents affected, based on courtroom paperwork. Plaintiffs had requested the courtroom for $5,000 for every intentional violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, or $1,000 for each negligent violation, courtroom paperwork stated.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in addition to officers with Google couldn’t instantly be reached to remark. Google had argued in courtroom paperwork that the plaintiffs weren’t entitled to cash or injunctive reduction as a result of they’d suffered no hurt.

The case is Rivera v Google, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 16-02714.